This disclosure pertains to regulation of oil content in plant tissues through manipulation of proteins.
Cytoplasmic lipid droplets (LDs) are evolutionarily conserved organelles found in a wide range of unicellular and multicellular organisms. Uniquely delineated by a single phospholipid monolayer and coated with a diverse set of proteins, LDs function primarily in the storage of energy-rich neutral lipids, such as triacylglycerols. In plants, LDs have been studied mostly in oilseeds, although all plant cell types, including vegetative tissues, have the machinery required for accumulating and storing lipids in LDs.
A number of high value oils are produced by plants, and increasing the oil content in the cells of these oil-producing plants would be highly advantageous to the supply of these oils.